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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724652">Memories: Riolu</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffybunnybadass/pseuds/fluffybunnybadass'>fluffybunnybadass</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Riolu/Lucario - Sinnoh events [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, one-sided crush (for now), self shipping</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:40:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724652</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffybunnybadass/pseuds/fluffybunnybadass</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a nice day in Hearthome City, and Sarah has just beaten the Gym Leader Fantina. They also got a Riolu from their friend earlier this week. It’s time for them to call one of their friends back home and let them know what’s new!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>self/Lance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Riolu/Lucario - Sinnoh events [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105754</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Memories: Riolu</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The young trainer had grabbed a spot at one of the Pokecenter's free-to-use videophones. They sat down, quite nervously, a Pikachu perched on their shoulder as they tried to fight the creeping blush on their face. Their Pikachu patted their face, curious about the strange reaction its human was having.</p><p>“I-I'm fine, Pika! I promise!” they said, through a nervous grin. They kept trying to steel themselves against their nerves, both legs bouncing a mile a minute as they continued to count down the time.</p><p>1:58pm...</p><p>1:59pm....</p><p>They took a deep breath and let it out in a low whistle. With careful movement, they grabbed the receiver off the handle of the videophone, placing it carefully against their ear. They looked at the time once more.</p><p>1:59pm....</p><p>2:00pm!</p><p>With quick reflex, they dialed the number that they had grown to memorize over the last few years. There was a cute image of the videophone connected to another, an ellipsis slowly looping over as it waited for the recipient to pick up.</p><p>.</p><p>..</p><p>…</p><p>.</p><p>..</p><p>…</p><p>Were they too early? Maybe their receiver hadn't--- but before they could finish the thought, the screen changed. Their stomach lurched as they saw the standard animation replaced with a visual of a red-haired trainer on the other side, slightly older than them, sitting down in what looked like an office. Behind him was a Dragonair, who curled forward to look at the camera on its trainer's end. It gave a happy trill at the person it recognized on the other side of the screen.</p><p>The younger trainer's Pikachu did the same.</p><p>“Pika pi!!” It held up a paw and waved. Dragonair did the same with its tail, before its human gently pulled it back from the camera screen.</p><p>They let out a giggle. The greeting was enough to calm down some of their nerves.</p><p>“Hi, Lance.”</p><p>“Hello Sarah,” came the reply. He was still struggling to find a comfortable way to see without Dragonair crowding the video. They could hear him quietly mutter, “Dragonair, <em>sit</em>.”</p><p>“And hello to you too, Dragonair!”</p><p>It gave another trill before finally settling down along the back of its trainer's chair, head resting on his hair.</p><p>“Aw, that's so cute!!” they squealed, forgetting all about their nerves as they watched. “It's like a hat for you!”</p><p>“Did you think I was kidding when I told you that Dragon-type Pokemon are difficult to raise?”</p><p>“Noooo, but I think it's adorable actually getting to see this side of you!” Once they realized what they had been saying to him, they quickly shut their mouth, trying not to let their face flush.</p><p>“Uh-huh. Okay. How's it out there in Sinnoh so far? Got any new badges?”</p><p>Their face immediately lit up. “Oh!! Yes! I just beat Hearthome's Gym Leader, Fantina. She was a lot of fun, and I loved her Gym. Did you know that she also was a Contest Champion? During her match, you could see how well she blended the two together.” They let out a sigh. “Ahhh, that's how I wanna be with some of my contest Pokemon!”</p><p>Lance let out a chuckle. “<em>Only</em> your contest Pokemon?”</p><p>There was a pause, as though he had asked her a ridiculous question. “Well, <em>yeah</em>. It takes a lot of work just raising Pokemon for contests. And while I'm sure you could win them with <em>any</em> Pokemon, it needs a lot of work, and researching what moves a Pokemon can learn, and then teaching them those moves, and then you gotta combo them... I know it sounds a lot like regular battling, but it's more difficult to make things look pretty when you're not good at it.” <em>Or pretty at all</em>, they thought bitterly to theirself, but they knew better by now than to say that negative thought that around him.</p><p>Even without them saying it, he knew where that line of thinking was going to take them. “You know that's not true. You won contests in Hoenn, right?”</p><p>“...Yeah, I did.”</p><p>“Just because you're not good at one type of thing doesn't mean that you aren't good at others, right?”</p><p>“You're right.” They found themselves starting to pout. They knew where this was gonna go and decided to diverge from yet another reminder about self-esteem and self-worth. “A-Anyways! How are things on your end?”</p><p>He took in a deep breath, and let it out. “Pretty well, actually. Since Red went away to train, and Green took the opening for Viridian City Gym, and <em>you're</em> not interested in the position,” (they casually but very pointedly looked away at that remark), “they've talked about putting me as Champion.”</p><p>Sarah's eyes lit up and they slammed both hands down on the table, the receiver falling as they shouted at the screen. “REALLY?! THAT'S SO AWESOME!!”</p><p>The loud clattering of the phone had made Lance pull the phone away from his ear. He pointed down to the ground, where Pika was picking up the phone to hand to her trainer. Sarah looked sheepishly and embarrassed by their passionate response, and sat back down, taking the phone their Pikachu handed to them.</p><p>“S-sorry about that! But seriously, that's so cool!”</p><p>“Nothing's set in stone yet, and there's paperwork to fill out as well. We still have to find out who would replace the opening that would leave in the league, as well as the replacement for Agatha, too. They're looking at a Dark-type trainer named Karen, but the other opening that moving me up would leave is still in the air.” He paused a moment, looking at Sarah directly. “Are you <em>sure</em> you don't want to take up a position here at the League, even for a little while? You're an excellent trainer.”</p><p>A little flush came to their cheeks at the praise.</p><p>“Uh. No.” They waved off the idea. “I'd rather travel and beat all the leagues and become a Pokemon Champion like <em>that</em>, not stay stuck in some old building waiting for trainers to come beat me.” Sarah paused. “No offense.”</p><p>As odd as their phrasing was, he couldn't help but laugh a little. “None taken.”</p><p>“'Sides, I don't take losing very well.”</p><p>“As I've noted.”</p><p>“Then why would you ask me to be at the league?!”</p><p>“It would only be temporary, so we could open up in time for the next round of challengers. I had a feeling that you wouldn't change your mind, but I wanted to see if you had given it any more thought. Remember-- It's not about <em>losing</em> to trainers, it's about challenging them to improve and better themselves and their team.”</p><p>Sarah bit back a sarcastic retort, instead choosing not to comment.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The two of them carried on like that, talking until a lull in the conversation happened. There was a contented, bright smile on Sarah's face. They had run out of conversation topics, but it seemed that Lance had remembered one from their email exchanges.</p><p>“Hey, you said that your friend out there got you a Riolu, correct? May I see it?”</p><p>At the mention of Riolu, Sarah's face instantly flushed, earning them a curious stare from the future Indigo League Champion.</p><p>“Is something wrong, Sarah?”</p><p>“Oh! Uh, uh, um. No! N-nothing at all!!” They looked away, biting their lower lip as they knew that their face was <em>extremely</em> warm from the sudden blushing.</p><p>Pika looked at her trainer, tilting her head. “Pika?”</p><p>They shook their head. “I, uh, just wasn't expecting you to ask, otherwise I would have had it out and ready to show you!!!!” They said, with a nervous laugh added to fill in the silence that followed.</p><p>Lance was puzzled at their reaction. He knew that they were usually eager to show him whatever new Pokemon they got, so why was Riolu the sudden exception? He watched as Sarah carefully put down the receiver and opened their bag to pull a Pokeball. They quietly released it, looking extremely flustered when it appeared next to them, more-so than they already had gotten. One of their hands rested against their seat, while the other picked up the receiver once more.</p><p>“This, uh... This is it.”</p><p>Riolu had been let out on the ground next to its human trainer. Only the top of its head, with its blue ears, could be seen through the video phone, and it couldn't see what its trainer was looking at. It looked at its human, curiously. Why was it so red like that? It closed its eyes, lifting its facial appendages slightly to hear the heartbeat of its trainer. There were a lot of aura waves frantically moving around them,.</p><p>&lt;&lt;<em>Oh.</em> &gt;&gt;</p><p>Sarah felt the gentle pull of a connection with their Riolu. Flustered, they couldn't decide if they wanted it to know or not, to be open or push it away. They didn't want to let it or Lance know how badly their crush on him was. Even if a childish confession in the past had left a metaphorical Wailord in the room, and they had grown a little from the experience, they found themselves liking him differently than how they thought they were supposed to feel. Less of a choice, more of a reaction. Riolu opened its eyes at its human, tilting its head as the human's feelings turned into a complex mess that made no sense to the little one.</p><p>“It... uh... It's recently hatched, I think. So I don't know how much it knows about things... uh...” They rambled nervously, Riolu continuing to tilt its head back and forth as it tried to process exactly what it was that its human wanted. It looked at the picture on the box.</p><p>&lt;&lt;<em>This one? Is part of why they are like this. But it's not a bad thing, they like being confused?&gt;&gt;</em></p><p>Riolu jumped up into its human's lap to get a better idea of who they were looking at. When it saw the redhead trainer more clearly, its eyes widened, lifting up its ears a bit in surprise, instantly knowing who this person was and what he meant to its trainer. It looked at its trainer to confirm. Sarah's blush got even more intense and they had to hold onto the seat of the chair to avoid yelling in flustered frustration about where the little Pokemon's curiosity was leading it.</p><p>Meanwhile, Lance watched on, still curious. He had an idea of what was making them blush, but he needed to tread cautiously if it was because of <em>that</em>.</p><p>“I did some research on Riolu and Lucario,” he said into the receiver, and Sarah looked at him extremely alert. He sighed. “The Champion of Sinnoh has a Lucario, so I was able to ask her about it. They're sensitive Pokemon, and, if raised right, battling with one will be like sharing a heart and a soul. You might have your hands full...”</p><p>“N-now why would you say th-that!? It's not like I can't raise any Pokemon. I did well with that Dratini your grandfather gave me!”</p><p>“I meant because you're often trying to <em>hide</em> your emotions, Sarah.”</p><p>“Oh. …. Hey wait a minute! I'm not <em>always</em> trying to hide my emotions.”</p><p>He didn't say anything to follow that up with. Riolu looked between the human on the screen and its trainer, noting how quickly their emotions seemed to fluctuate. They had calmed down now that they had been distracted from their feelings towards this other trainer, but there was still that wavering, underlying feeling of... a crush? Is that what it was called? The Riolu didn't understand it, but it turned back towards the human on the computer box and gave a cheerful yip.</p><p>&lt;&lt; “<em>This is my namesake!! Nice to meet you!”&gt;&gt;</em></p><p>Sarah immediately shot up like a bullet, face flustered as they tried not to yell at the Riolu.</p><p>“Y-YOU CAN'T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!!!”</p><p>The Riolu jumped, startled a little from the volume. It could see the red waves of anger coming off of them. But its trainer was not angry at it, but still frustrated? It didn't understand. More and more of that confusing energy.</p><p>&lt;&lt;<em> “Why not? He's Lance and I'm Lance too!! That's what daddy's trainer said. He even showed me a picture of him, too, so I'd know who it was that I was named after!” &gt;&gt;</em></p><p>Redder than a Charmeleon, Sarah sat back down, grumbling about their friend. They didn't try to hide it anymore, they thought to theirself. But when they put the receiver to their ear, they heard only a concerned tone speak to them once more.</p><p>“Is everything okay?”</p><p>“It's fine, it's fine. He's still learning about the world,” they muttered. They leaned against the divider between this videophone and the next, slouching in defeat, eyes downcast.</p><p>&lt;&lt; <em>“He seems very nice. But he didn't say hello back yet.” &gt;&gt;</em></p><p>“Riolu!!”</p><p>“It's not doing anything, Sarah.”</p><p>Finally, they looked up at the computer screen again, confused. “Huh? What do--” They stopped, realizing something. “You can't hear Riolu, can you?”</p><p>“No?”</p><p>“Huh.” <em>Wonder if there's a way to know if you're aura sensitive without having to be around a Riolu or Lucario,</em> they thought. They thought that Lance would have been aura sensitive to some extent, though they didn't really have any basis for why. He just seemed like he would, to them.</p><p>&lt;&lt;<em> “Why can't he hear me? I see him, and you're talking to him, and he's responding, but he didn't hear me.”&gt;&gt; </em></p><p>“Because he's not actually here,” they said with some relief in their voice. Whether or not that was it, or if it was because he wasn't aura sensitive, or because Riolu didn't have enough power to do that, Sarah was extremely grateful that Lance hadn't heard anything embarrassing that Riolu shared about its human.</p><p>“What <em>did </em>Riolu say?”</p><p>That popped them out of their thoughts.</p><p>“Huh?! Oh, uh...” They looked away, feeling warm once again. “He uh, he said hi. And that he thinks you're a nice person.”</p><p>“Well that's very sweet of him. Let me tell him hello.”</p><p>Sarah gave him a look, but held the receiver to their Riolu's ear. He looked up at his trainer, confused, until he heard his namesake speak.</p><p>“Hello, little Riolu!”</p><p>“Ri!”</p><p>“I hope that the two of you work well together, and that you don't give Sarah any hard times, okay?”</p><p>“Ri ri!”</p>
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